Newly released photos show Hernandez carrying a gun

Previously photographed while breaking tackles and celebrating touchdowns, the only Aaron Hernandez images circulating nowadays show the former Patriot in handcuffs or holding a gun.

By Patrick Ronan

Wicked Local

By Patrick Ronan

Posted Jul. 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 26, 2013 at 1:47 PM

By Patrick Ronan

Posted Jul. 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 26, 2013 at 1:47 PM

ATTLEBORO

» Social News

Previously photographed while breaking tackles and celebrating touchdowns, the only Aaron Hernandez images circulating nowadays show the former Patriot in handcuffs or holding a gun.

New images of Hernandez carrying a gun shortly after the shooting death of Odin Lloyd have surfaced in new court documents. Police said these images, captured by the video surveillance inside Hernandez’s North Attleborough home, help link Hernandez to Lloyd’s murder on June 17.

The black-and-white images, albeit grainy, appear to show Hernandez holding a gun inside his home at about 3:30 a.m. on the morning of Lloyd’s slaying. Police found Lloyd’s body later that day in an industrial park about a mile from Hernandez’s home.

The previously unreleased surveillance photos hadn’t been released to the public until Thursday, a day after Attleboro District Court Judge Daniel O’Shea approved a motion by The Patriot Ledger, the Taunton Daily Gazette and their parent company, GateHouse Media, to lift the impoundment of court records in the Hernandez case.

The court released 104 pages of warrant materials, including the arrest warrants for Hernandez and an alleged accomplice, Ernest Wallace. It was the second time in three weeks that O’Shea granted the media’s request to unseal court records in the Hernandez investigation.

Hernandez, 23, has pleaded innocent to murder and other weapons charges in the shooting death of Lloyd, 27, of Dorchester. Hernandez, who is being held without bail, was released by the Patriots shortly after his arrest on June 26.

Wallace has been charged with being an accessory after the fact in Lloyd’s slaying, and Carlos Ortiz, who police say was with Hernandez and Wallace on the night of the murder, faces a weapons charge.

Except for the surveillance photos, the records released Thursday contained a lot of the same information included in the records unsealed in Attleboro District Court earlier this month. The new materials include warrant applications, affidavits and returns for multiple searches of Hernandez’s home and property on July 5.

Some of the materials that were being sought by police in the searches were redacted from the documents.

One new piece of evidence included in the latest round of court records was the police’s alleged recovery of a palm print belonging to Hernandez on a rifle. The print was found on a functioning semi-automatic FEG Hungarian rifle, a 7.62x39mm caliber firearm, that was in a black gym bag on Hernandez’s property, the warrants state.

Attached to the rifle was a Master Molder magazine with a 33-round capacity, investigators said. Police said Hernandez did not have a valid or expired license to carry or a Massachusetts Firearms Identification Card.

Investigators said they have not yet recovered the firearm they believe was used in Lloyd’s slaying. Court records said five discharged .45 caliber cartridge casings were found on the ground in the immediate area around Lloyd’s body. Although the murder weapon hasn’t been recovered, police said they recovered a .45 caliber spent cartridge casing in the dumpster on the property of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car in North Attleborough.

Page 2 of 2 - A manager at the Enterprise told police she removed the casing from the 2012 Nissan Altima that Hernandez had returned on the afternoon of June 17, according to court records.

On July 9, the court released 154 pages of documents related to eight search warrants — executed between June 17 and July 1. The materials had been impounded at the request of the Bristol County District Attorney’s office, but lawyers for GateHouse Media contended that state law says all warrant materials are public records.

The motion by GateHouse newspapers was supported by other news organizations including the Associated Press, CNN and the Eagle Tribune. Attorney Michael Grygiel, representing the Ledger and Daily Gazette, said he wouldn’t be surprised if more search warrants are returned to the court as police continue to probe Lloyd’s death.

Hernandez’s defense team opposed the release of the court records, saying the widespread sharing of information would harm their client’s constitutional right to a fair trial.